


Recharge

by Capricorn_Stellium



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen, Naptime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capricorn_Stellium/pseuds/Capricorn_Stellium
Summary: Running even lower on fuel than they were used to, the rest of the team heads out to see if they can locate any remaining energon deposits that hadn't already been scouted by the Decepticons.Meanwhile, Ratchet, running on fumes, manages comms for the mission and finds himself lost in thought at his operations console until the human children contact him for an after school portal to the base, feeling similarly more run down than usual.Eventually, Ratchet and the kids give in to their need for a nap.[Inspired by some great fan art by soothedcerberus on Tumblr, link to post inside!]
Comments: 16
Kudos: 108





	Recharge

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this lovely fan art by soothedcerberus over on Tumblr: https://soothedcerberus.tumblr.com/post/630207058600427520/shhh-theyre-sleepin
> 
> It starts off rather heavy and introspective to set things up, but the second half is as sweet as sugar to make up for it, I promise! 
> 
> There is a one or two line mention of a major character death, but I didn't tag for it as it's not a character we actually see in TF Prime and it's not gone over in any detail. (Just warning in case that kind of thing is potentially upsetting!) 
> 
> Ratchet also goes over some of his memories here, some of which are not too happy, but there is no detailed violence in this fic. 
> 
> There is some brief theological talk regarding Ratchet's take on Primus in regards to some trauma in his past, which may be a sensitive topic for those with religious trauma of their own, so I would like to warn for that. Again, the second half of the story is where the fluff takes place, so if you'd like to skip to that, go right ahead!

Ratchet had been tracking mission specifics from his central console as per usual; The rest of the team were out on a recon mission to see if any further underground reserves of energon could be located before the Decepticons discovered any more of the local deposits, claiming them for their own use. 

It had been stressful; They were running desperately low on fuel supplies once again, and Ratchet had paired down his own allotted energon amount in an attempt to spare as much as possible for emergency medical use. 

Optimus had discovered his tactic nearly immediately, after Ultra Magnus had raised a notice of discrepancy in their tabled records and reported it immediately. It had led to a mild argument that Ratchet didn’t have the physical energy nor processor bandwidth for at the moment, running nearly on empty with no decrease in his typical duties to match his ever-dwindling internal fuel levels. 

The rather difficult conversation with Optimus had ultimately led to their current search being approved; It was rare that the base was left undefended, with ideally at least two field capable bots in or in immediate proximity to the facility at all times in the event further Deception activity was detected, but it seemed discovering Ratchet suffering in silence had spurred him to greenlight this whole-team search.

All field members, including Agent Fowler and some human aircraft, were on a broad radius search pattern to see if any energon clusters or potential geoclusters could be identified. 

A risky move, too highly visible to any Deception scouts for anyone to be comfortable with it, but their low energon reserves became more and more of a pressing concern every cycle. 

The need for the mission did nothing to alleviate Ratchet’s concerns regarding the effort, particularly not after the sad look Optimus had given him as he had left via Ground Bridge; Ratchet knew anything discussed would remain confidential, but it had been hard. 

Optimus always tried to be positive about their situation on Earth, largely for the sake of the others, but Ratchet leaned perhaps too far the opposite direction. His harsh realism often fed into his more depressive tendencies, and he felt he had been a bit too stern with Optimus during their earlier conversation.

Optimus had known him a long time, and still saw him primarily as the proud Chief Medical Officer of the Autobots and, perhaps, even as the young medical advisor to the Council he had been so long ago on Cybertron. It hurt, to have to prove that kind but outdated image wrong; As optimistic as Orion Pax had been and still was in the form of Optimus Prime, the blunt truth of it was that the confident, skilled, proud medic was standing there with chipped paint and fatigue lines down his once-smooth faceplate, starving himself out of material scarcity on top of his permanently homesickness. 

It was a bleak image. Ratchet hated being the perpetual reminder of their current limitations and the nature of their struggle, and he hated that Optimus had been understanding and didn’t judge him aside from his ever-expressive face plate cycling between concern, sorrow, that endless determination; He had merely told Ratchet that as their medic (and as his oldest friend) he needed to take care of himself, and that was that. No rebuttal to Ratchet’s tired gruff tones; The mission was planned and approved, without any further need for elaboration. 

And yet, Ratchet couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed. They all should have been back on a thriving Cybertron, living their lives under a new Council, a new Senate, a new system headed by their leader— The new Prime. He’d still be the CMO, he always would be, but he’d ideally be heading a team of medics, organising care from top down, firmly in charge and pleased with a global restructure and provision of accessible care… 

…Instead, he was borderline collapsing and his small handful of fellow survivors were out digging for scraps. 

It was rare that Ratchet genuinely felt his age, but he was certainly feeling it this afternoon.

It was difficult to keep track of everyone at once as scattered as they were, especially as the team had spread out individually to increase their chances of spotting any likely energon formations. He was no stranger to intensive multi-tasking, but his older frame was severely strained under his near-dangerously low fuel levels at the moment, and although his work wasn’t quite physical in nature, processor functions drained energy reserves just as quickly— Especially when under duress. 

And by now, he had been under duress for a few centuries, continuously. Running on almost empty was hardly a health concern in comparison to that, or at least, that’s how Ratchet was justifying it. They had no choice, so he didn’t, either. 

Cybertronians experience a different sensation of hunger; It is not as the children described their own need to refuel, “tummy rumblies” being a very foreign concept to the bots, but rather, it was the gradual decrease in function that indicated serious fuel concerns. Before it ever reached that point, internal gauges would indicate ideal refuelling times and amounts, and it was rare that a bot under average conditions would ever truly experience an equivalent to human hunger.

But these were conditions of scarcity, serious resource poverty, and Ratchet could feel the gears and struts in his limbs struggle. He was slower than usual, and it was requiring more of his processor space than usual to be dedicated to the task at hand in order to avoid losing focus, stiffly planted in front of his console with Ground Bridge controls in reach should things escalate to where a swift egress was needed. 

He tried not to think about how he might struggle to get out into the field should his alt-mode be required. He hoped any injuries, if they occurred, would be at least minor enough for anyone so affected to make it back to base on their own… It was dangerous, to be running on such low energon levels. And not just for him. 

A call on his console drew his attention. It was Jack, requesting Arcee’s location. It was around when they usually got out of school; He had lost track of time.

Better to get it over with now rather than leave it as a pending alert; He was too busy and too fatigued to deal with the children right now.

“Jack, Arcee is on a mission. She will be back with the others later this afternoon; You may wish to proceed home for now.” He hadn’t intended to be quite so rough; It seemed his even lower than usual fuel levels were affecting his mood… Not that he’d ever really been comfortable speaking to the children. 

The human sighed. “Okay, Ratch. Sure.” He sounded more depressive than usual, some vague shuffling in the background of the call indicating other humans were around him— Possibly other school students, maybe Raf and Miko. 

And if it was indeed Raf and Miko, the lack of shrieking and laughter was concerning. 

Human children always contested or complained, they made noise comparable to the roar of hundreds of engines hitting full throttle at once during the racing games hosted on Velocitron. They hardly ever listened, opting instead to debate even the undebatable. Was there something wrong? Was Jack ill? Were the other children alright? If they weren’t together as usual, then where were they? 

Ratchet had done all the research that time had allowed since the incident with Raf’s dark energon infection, but he was still hardly experienced in human care. A the same time, he couldn’t ignore the medical coding such abnormal behaviour prompted, his systems automatically viewing them as potential patients, and the additional protocols would only run his internal fuel supply lower and lower if they were left to run in the background of his active processor functions. 

After some consideration, Ratchet messaged Jack in return. “Jack, is everything alright? Where are Raf and Miko?”

It took a second for Jack to respond; Typically he answered near immediately, and all the children sometimes even cut off comms before they were fully sent. This was a bad sign. 

“It’s… fine. A hard day at school, it happens sometimes. And they’re with me, no worries.” 

Ratchet was now officially worried. 

“Get to an area out of any immediate line of sight. I will open a Ground Bridge portal; You may wait for Arcee and the others to return at the base, as long as you behave yourselves. I am busy and unable to watch you as closely as I’d like.” 

“Sounds like you’re having a long day, too, I guess. We can manage that; Hold on a second.” There was some more shuffling, but hardly the excitement a Ground Bridge portal typically generated. “Alright, we can do this quickly. Beam us up, Scotty.” 

Well, at least Jack felt well enough to make some weird human reference. Ordinarily it would agitate Ratchet slightly more than it really should, but in this context it served as some reassurance that Jack was at least feeling well enough to make a quip on the way over. As annoying as it was. 

Ratchet pulled the lever down to activate the Ground Bridge; Before he could return to his console main window to check on Bumblebee’s location, Optimus was now paging in. It was flagged as non-urgent, but Ratchet was quick to respond anyway. 

“I have been notified of a Ground Bridge operation; Has anyone returned to base?” 

“No, the children are off from school. I have bridged them over; They should be arriving shortly. I’ll keep an eye on them while they wait for the rest of the team… They seem to have had a difficult day.” As if he ever needed to justify anything to Optimus; He knew he was still justifying it to himself. He was busy, he should have just let them all go home… But he couldn’t help it. He wanted to check on them. A depressive mental state could indicate any number of health concerns; He had read that in one of the files Nurse Darby had supplied him with. And health concerns, even human ones to some degreee, fell into his remit. It was something he could manage, unlike anything else in his life. 

Perhaps his own mental state had been a bit more depressive than usual, as well. He was loathe to admit it, but Ratchet could use some company at the base. To keep him awake, at least. 

“And it seems you have your servos full, old friend. We can manage in the field for now; The Deception forces appear to be engaged elsewhere for the time being. I will alert you should anyone’s status change, or if we discover any potentially viable energon deposits. Attend to the children while their guardians are away.” Ratchet could hear Optimus’ smile through the comms link. 

Heaving his shoulders, he ex-vented, and replied. “Yes, Optimus. I will remain nearby in case I am needed.” Ordinarily, he’d argue. Missions needed mission control to be monitored, but… 

…He was just tired enough to agree without a fuss. 

The Ground Bridge began to surge, the telltale sign of an impending arrival. 

Ratchet stood nearer the side of the bridge to receive them; The three children appeared, looking somehow smaller than usual, if that were possible for such tiny beings. 

“Are you alright?” Ratchet addressed them hoping to deal with his medical protocols first; It would save energy and time in the long run. 

Jack rolled his backpack over his shoulder, letting it drag on the ground before throwing it next to the sofa where Raf climbed up and tucked himself into the corner at the same time, curling his legs up and resting his head on the sofa arm, head at an odd angle so his glasses didn’t get crushed. Jack joined him, sprawled out on the other end of the sofa taking the opposite corner, heavily dropping his feet up on the table- Nearly knocking one of their video game controllers off the end of it in the process.

Miko was the one who answered; It seemed her bad mood had been held back up until this point, a rare show of restraint from a human who was typically so exuberant. Ratchet was a little proud of her for doing her best to wait for a more opportune moment to vent, not that he’d ever tell her that directly. 

She flailed her arms around as much as her exhaustion allowed; It was clear the day had been hard for all of them. “No, Doc Bot! Today was terrible! First, I forgot my homework, which is normal but still, but then, at lunch, I got in trouble because I threw an orange peel into the garbage, or I tried to but it missed, and it hit some other girl in the back of the head and she told the security guard that I threw it at her on purpose even though I didn’t! So I had to go eat the rest of the time in detention, and then once I got out it turns out I missed a call from my mom in Japan, and you know how rare calls are, it’s always emails because of the time zone difference, and it’s not fair!” 

She finally jumped into the middle of the sofa; Ratchet noticed some kind of fluid in her eyes. Did humans leak from their optics? Was that normal?!? 

Before he could activate diagnostics, Miko whipped around in the sofa, hanging a bit over the top with her arms drooping down over the back of it, facing Ratchet. 

“And Raf missed a couple questions on a really hard test but it still sucks because he got a B instead of an A because of it and you know how his mom is hard on him about that kind of thing, and it was a quiz and technically they’re not supposed to grade those anyway, so it’s, it’s double not-fair!” 

She tucked her head down to hide her tears, muffling her voice a bit. “And Jack’s not-girlfriend has a boyfriend and it isn’t him and that’s loser boy stuff but it still sucks too.” 

The boys looked away a bit; It seemed Miko was right. Today had been hard on all of them. 

She looked up suddenly, almost startling Ratchet. The tears had pressed into the sofa a bit, but her face was still slightly red.

“I really wanted to hear my mom, Ratch.” 

He didn’t know how to comfort humans, or anyone really, despite all the bedside patient care training he’d had back when he was still one of Remedy’s students himself. 

But he’d try. 

Walking over a bit closer, fighting the stiff, heavy feeling of his joints, he offered his palm up to the edge of the upper platform of the base. 

It was rare the bots ever actually held the humans in their servos. It was dangerous in too many ways to make it worth it; Aside from the fall hazard, it was easy to get pinched in all the small servo components that made up digit joints and the seams around where their servo and forearm armour plating met, the small sections of exposed wrist cabling itself running hot compared to sensitive low temp human bodies, presenting a surface burn risk for thin organic material. They were so delicate, their skin nothing like their much more durable metal mesh. 

But on occasion, Ratchet was willing to permit it. 

Miko’s eyes widened a bit, despite being puffy from tears; She seemed to enjoy the physical contact, if the way she climbed Bulkhead fearlessly was any indicator. 

She took the offer and climbed over the back of the sofa, confident but still a bit slower than usual, slipping between the railing bars to sit in Ratchet’s palm. Right in the centre, stay seated, as they had been told over and over again. Miko did, in fact, follow instructions on occasion, she could prove it! 

The weight and warmth of the tiny human in his palm provided Ratchet with a focus point; Back on Cybertron, those who believed in Primus as a spiritual entity often held small crystals in their palms to produce the same effect, a sensory meditational tool. 

Ratchet rarely engaged in active worship; On occasion, back on Cybertron, some patients asked him to be present while they prayed on their sickbed, or friends of ill or injured bots had made motions to bless him while he was working, or small tokens were left in waiting rooms outside the surgical theatre, and so on. He didn’t engage with the various spiritual things people tended to do when lives were at risk, particularly where palliative care had been concerned, but he had also never been disrespectful; If they wanted to do it, whether they were Spectralists or whatever else, it was fine by him. It didn’t interrupt things. It often actively helped patients remain at ease or kept their emotional and mental wellbeing more stable. He saw the value in it, from a practical point of view. 

And now, with the attention Miko warranted while curled up in his palm and gently hugging his thumb, careful not to accidentally shift her, it had the same meditative effect on him. 

He let his processor wander as she calmed herself. 

In medical school, they pushed similar techniques for stress relief. That had been centuries and centuries ago; He remembered his disdain for those exercises, thinking it somewhat ineffective, at least for him personally. Perhaps the stress of the job had never affected him as much until he had to do it under wartime conditions… The only time he could remember resorting to secular meditation to centre himself was when they lost Elita-One. 

That had been one of the worst days. 

And the only time he could remember ever having prayed to Primus was just before the war had begun, when he realised the factional violence was increasing and the impact such a degree of social upheaval would have, that war was inevitable, that it was starting and he shouldn’t stop change and couldn’t stop conflict… And of course, he had then thought of how quickly the planetary healthcare system would be overwhelmed, how bad it could and would get, and he off-lined his optics and genuinely prayed. 

He had prayed for a swift resolution, that the injured would be kept to a minimum, that Cybertron would see another Golden Age once it was all said and done, so that somehow it would be worth it. It had all come from deep in his spark, he had imagined some spiritual electricity flowing through his core in the way certain cultural texts had always mentioned, using visualisation to connect himself with the Well of All-Sparks and trying desperately to feel the divine creator, seeking help from Primus himself. 

His prayer never came true. He hadn’t prayed before then, and hadn’t after that singular occasion. He wanted on some level to believe. His best friend carried a relic of ancient history which many considered a sign of divinity in and of itself, and some would consider that proof of something. But he just couldn’t buy into it. Optimus wasn’t a God, he was an archivist that had been changed by some inexplicable magical technology that had chosen him in a destined moment of possession when seeking out a spark with certain characteristics, kindness, honesty, curiosity. 

And while cosmic magic was certainly intertwined with their very being on some level, Primus had to be something else entirely. Ratchet couldn’t bear believing that the creator of his people would then let them suffer beyond reason, bring them into existence only to let them be destroyed like this. Dwindling and weak, on another world. And his one prayer had never yet been answered. 

He ex-vented; It startled Miko, who was closer than she usually would have been from standing on the upper platform where the children typically hung out. She wrapped her arms as far around his thumb as they would go, still seated with her legs folded up beneath her for balance. 

“Woah, Ratch! Are you OK, Doc Bot? Don’t need a check-up, do you?”

He must look visibly worn; His self-repair nanites were likely at an all time low functioning level, given his depleted fuel tank, and any remaining sheen was gone from his paint. Small stress lines were probably showing in his faceplate; The metal there was thinner than elsewhere, and while such stress fractures were common from simple day to day expressions that bent and warped the metal in mild ways, without the constant low grade maintenance of the nanites, there was nothing to prevent the lines from settling in. At least until he refuelled, if his tank would ever really be full again on this planet. 

He noticed Raf and Jack were now also watching him, peeking owlishly from their respective corners of the sofa.

“I’ll be alright. I’m an old bot, you know.” Be kind, he had to remind himself. Human children were quick to take things personally. “I’ve had plenty of bad days. Some of them, you’ll look back and think how silly it was you were upset about something so minor. Other days, you end up surprised you ever even got to see the next day at all, and you end up grateful no matter how you felt in the moment.”

They were watching him with rapt attention; Raf and Jack had sat up a bit more, while Miko had relaxed a bit and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking up from her spot in his palm. He supposed it was better than them just moping around. 

“But I remember being young, in a fairly isolated village, somewhat like Jasper in that regard. I hadn’t yet found my mentor, Remedy, and I despaired. My village was best known for natural mechanoid crops and cultivars; No city had yet developed in the region, and the natural fibrous metals were used to transfer information at faster speeds when developing data infrastructure. Otherwise, they were woven into small tunnel like objects to sheath wires and cables used for all sorts of things.” 

“On one occasion, an older mech had attempted to teach me how to cut up the fibres, leaving the ends open so they could be spliced into other lines. I found it unintuitive, and I ended up repairing all the pre-cut examples! Tch. In retrospect, that may have been the first example of my urge to repair things coming into play. But at the time, I thought I was defective somehow. Nobody else had quite the inclination I had, or the skills I had. Most of the bots in my village participated in handling the fibre crops and metal weaving, wire making, those types of things, but it wasn’t for me. I did poorly there.” 

“But it turned out, I just needed to bide my time and leave when it was right to leave. Find other things, better things, more interesting things. Things I could do, and do well, and actually enjoy doing. Easier said than done; There were no central rail networks or roads. I walked.” 

Miko gasped. “You walked?!?! How far?!?” 

He scoffed, but couldn’t help the small smile that crossed his faceplate, deepening the lines that had formed along the more flexible metal. “Further than I could nowadays, that’s for certain! But I reached it. Iacon.” 

Jack chimed in. “Iacon, the place where all those files we hunted down came from?” 

Ratchet nodded. “Yes, it was our central city, the first hub of culture on our world. The earliest fully developed region. I figured I was sure to find something of interest there, and I did; There were so many things of interest there, from the arts to the sciences.” It made his spark hurt, to remember it in its heyday. 

It was Raf’s turn to comment. “How did you know you wanted to do medicine, if there were so many options in Iacon?” 

He often wondered himself, in all honesty. It seemed innate to him. “Well, I suppose I had always been good at fixing things. When I had been travelling, I came across a few bots here and there with minor damage, mostly fatigue related. It turns out fixing twisted cabling is very similar to re-weaving fibrous metal; I suppose my failed lessons had been successful in some small way after all. I found it rewarding. I still remember the first time I repaired another bot. I wanted to feel that way forever; Useful, with the satisfaction of knowing someone was happier, healthier, because of my assistance. And of course, I liked feeling like I was good at something.” 

Raf smiled at him. “That’s really nice, Ratchet. I’m glad you found your way.” 

Miko nearly stood up, but at the last moment remembered where she was, and threw her hands up in the air instead. “Yeah, what a journey! I like travelling, I bet you saw all kinds of cool stuff. Y’know, Japan is on the other side of the world from here, I’ve come a long way, too!” She puffed herself up a bit, clearly proud. 

From his spot on the sofa, Jack stood up to get a better angle while talking to Ratchet. “I’ve never travelled all that much, but I don’t know. After I graduate, my mom wants me to go to college at least close enough to see her every now and then, if I don’t just end up staying at home and driving in every day. There are a couple good schools around here, but I’ve been kinda busy and haven’t looked into technical programs all that much yet. At least I kinda know what I want to do, though.” 

Raf shifted around too, now sitting on the arm of the sofa with his legs crossed. “I’ll probably do data science, or something similar. Maybe information security, pen testing, that type of thing. Software design is an option, too.” 

From her spot on Ratchet’s palm, Miko leaned a bit precariously forward to better see Jack and Raf. “And I want to do music! I want to be a rock star. But I’ll settle for casual gigs, as long as the venues are stylin’.” 

Ratchet was happy that they seemed a bit more animated now; However, he was definitely not in the same camp. 

“Yip-ip-ip, Miko, be careful! Time for you to get down.” He slowly set his hand back to a level position with the upper platform, flattening his digits out slowly so she could get back on solid ground. Jack walked around to help her get under the railing again safely. She only complained mildly, to her credit.

Now without Miko to worry about, he ex-vented again and stretched a bit, his joints making creaking sounds as they strained without sufficient energon flowing through them to keep up oil pressure levels. 

Jack took note. “Seriously Ratch, you alright? I don’t know a lot about Cybertronian medicine, but my mom’s a nurse. You definitely seem kinda… Tired.” 

Well, there was no denying that. “The mission the team is on at the moment is to see if more energon deposits can be located. We’re low on fuel, and as a result, so am I.” 

Raf looked concerned. “So you’re running on empty?”  
Ratchet cast his gaze to the side. “Not quite yet, but very nearly. We’re hoping we can find something, or I’ll be forced to tap into our emergency supply reserve, which I’m not willing to do unless… Things get truly dire.” 

It went unsaid that the situation was very obviously dire most of the time. Just because they were children, didn’t mean they couldn’t figure out the obvious implications. 

Miko, now perched on the back of the sofa kicking her legs back and forth, looked worried before she put her fists on her hips and pulled a bunched-up face. “Well then, take a nap, you’re basically an old man anyway!” 

“Miko!” Jack chastised her, but only mildly. “I mean, she has a point. I know you probably need to stay awake to monitor things, but is there some way you can, I don’t know, rest? How do bots relax?” 

Raf got up and walked around, narrowly dodging Miko’s feet that were still kicking back and forth off the edge of the sofa in the process. “There are some tarps in the storage room, the ones used for rain runoff on the roof, and the one Agent Fowler uses to cover his plane while it’s out here and not in the main hangar. They’re huge. We could use one of them as a big blanket, make a pillow fort kind of thing with the rest!” 

Whatever was happening, was escalating fast. Ratchet had to put the kibosh on it! “Now wait, Jack is right! I need to be at least somewhat attentive. What if Optimus or any of the others need an urgent Ground Bridge, or if—“ 

“The Ground Bridge alert is loud, it’ll beep and tell you if someone needs it opened. You can turn on audio alarms for all this stuff, right? Just turn up the volume!” Miko was a devious little human, but she was also correct. Audial alerts were certainly an option… 

“You said it yourself Ratch, I’m right. And I think you could use a break, especially after putting up with us, right?” 

Ratchet nearly cringed; It wasn’t his intention to make the children feel all that unwelcome, not really, but he could address it at a later time. It seems he was now roped firmly into whatever they were thinking of. 

Finally, he gave in. “Alright, well… What are we doing, then?” 

A small “Yes!” was heard from Miko as Raf came forward. “Well, do Cybertronians ever lay down to rest?” 

Ratchet scoffed as he rolled his optics. “Pfff, of course! We don’t just enter recharge while standing up, unless there’s something very seriously wrong. Typically we have recharge slabs or berths, found inside habitation suites. Laying out flat either way is fine, and in fact, is the safest way to do it.”

“So then you won’t mind helping us get those tarps out, then.” Every now an then, Jack reminded Ratchet of Orion Pax. 

“I suppose not, as long as we’re sure to return them later.” 

— 

It only took a few moments to prepare; The tarps were huge and heavy by human standards, but for Ratchet, they reminded him somewhat of the thin hospital blankets he was so familiar with back on Cybertron, if a bit rougher in texture. 

Some were piled into a reasonably quasi-soft arrangement, covering most of the floor and some of the walls in the corner of the base. Agent Fowler’s jet tarp was rolled up and tied like a pillow, something Ratchet constructed for his aching spinal struts. 

“You ready, Ratchet?” Raf adjusted his glasses as he looked over the heap of tarps; They were all satisfied with the heap of tarps. As with everything else, they just had to make it work. The silliness of it all seemed lost on the children, or perhaps they had just embraced it. They were certainly enjoying it, anyway. 

“You act as if we’re going on a mission of our own; I’m simply going to try to limit my fuel expenditure as much as possible until we get word back from the team! Now back up a bit, I don’t want to knock any of you over by accident. ” He was putting on a decent show, but Ratchet was running ragged. He would never admit it, but he was looking forward to resting his aching servos. 

He gingerly lowered himself into the huge swathe of bunched up tarps, situating himself so he was slightly elevated using the corner of the room as support. 

The children had been adamant that he use an extra tarp as a “cover”; It didn’t make much sense to Ratchet as his temperature was still reading with a perfectly average range, and the tarp material wouldn’t have been anywhere near suitable for providing any significant thermal insulation. 

He wasn’t being exposed to the elements while inside the base and he most certainly wasn’t in alt-mode either, so it felt a bit odd to be pulling a tarp over himself given the lack of logical reason to do so. But the humans could be persuasive when they wanted to be… And he didn’t have the energy left by now to argue all that much. 

Raf and Miko cheered and ran over when Ratchet finally settled, complete with tarp pulled up to his mid-chest. It wasn’t the most comfortable, and it looked absolutely ridiculous, but it was definitely better than standing at this point; His spinal struts had been strained a bit more than he had realised, and it was a relief to be sat down. 

Jack was quieter than the other two humans, but was clearly smiling as he followed not far behind. “Told you, Ratch. You need a break.” He turned to the others. “Now, how do we make sure he doesn’t get up until Optimus or someone else needs him?” 

“I know how to make him stay still!” Miko shouted, running up to clamour up the tarp as best as she could with her tiny grip.

Ratchet knew there was a reason he’d never let the children see him recharge before. It had nothing to do with different rest schedules, or privacy. No, it was because they would clearly begin to climb all over him like their hairy genetic cousins, the primaries, or primates, or something. The not-humans who still lived outside. Those were the ones. Animals. They were all a bunch of organic animals, and they were going to give him a spark attack. 

“Out of all the species on your planet to develop prehensility, it had to be you!” He quickly placed his open servo under Miko to catch her if she slipped, helping her scale the side of the tarp until she came up to rest at the top of it, just over his chest plating close to his spark. 

“Yep, we’re good for climbing stuff!” She shouted towards the ground. “Raf, get up here!” 

Ratchet leaned his head back and ex-vented. Might as well, why not? One of them was already up here and he certainly wouldn’t be moving now. 

He set his other servo down on the ground to lift Raf up gently, and lifted him up so he could perch in the safest spot for a human his size, right on his shoulder armour next to his shoulder armour. 

Ratchet called down to Jack himself. “I don’t suppose you want to join us?” 

Jack briefly looked surprised before walking over, Ratchet’s servo once more rested on the ground for easy access. 

Due to Jack’s relatively larger size, Ratchet placed him near his elbow joint on the arm still folded so that servo could remain over Miko, resting Jack against that side of his chest plating while Miko was kept contained and as still as she’d ever get. 

With everyone safely placed, he was content with the arrangement. It was an interesting sensation; His armour was far less sensitive than his sensor lined servos, and he saw them more than he felt them. As a precaution, he disabled some of his reflexive physical functions to prevent any accidental shifting while the children were laid out on top of him. 

“Well, what now?” Ratchet was at a loss; It had been a very long time since he’d literally laid down on the job, if he ever had. 

“Tell us some bedtime stories!” Miko was wriggling under his servo, but not making any real attempt to get away. It seemed to be a human thing; She appeared to be nestling into the tarp somewhat. It couldn’t have been entirely comfortable, but it was possible the rare novelty of the situation overruled any discomfort from the rough material. 

“Bedtime stories?” Human rituals seemed very strange to Ratchet, sometimes. 

Jack answered first. “Uh, it’s a human thing, I guess. Before we enter recharge, parents will often read stories to their kids if they’re young enough for it. As adults, I guess we just listen to podcasts for the same effect, a type of radio broadcast that we can download off the internet and listen to with headphones while we get ready to go to bed. A lot of people feel like it helps them fall asleep.” 

Ratchet was interested; Maybe some human rituals had some merit to them. “Ah, so you enter recharge by gradually engaging a sleep mode, encouraged by external auditory stimuli? Interesting. I knew a mech, Jazz, who functioned in a similar way, although it’s hardly typical. Cybertronians can usually engage at-rest sleep mode protocols to enter recharge fairly swiftly, unless there’s a heavy load of processor data to sift through as part of our routine file management to maintain a healthy memory core, which can sometimes disrupt or delay the process.” 

“So, bots can get insomnia the same way humans can, basically… I’ll have to tell my mom that so she starts leaving you self-care reminders too.” There was a teasing tone to Jack’s voice, although a mellow one; The energy had shifted down again, as they all settled into their positions peppered around Ratchet’s armour. 

Raf spoke up, his usually small voice a bit louder in Ratchet’s audials owing to Raf’s current proximity to his helm. “Yeah, it can help to be the person telling the stories too, not just listening. It might help you relax. My mom falls asleep all the time when reading to us.”

Ratchet considered for a moment; Optimus had encouraged them to engage more in human culture, after all. 

“Alright. When I was still a student myself, I attended Deltaran Medical…” 

—

Optimus was proud of his team. 

They had managed to locate two previously unknown energon deposits within reasonable distance; The natural topography had shielded them from their scans, which hadn’t permeated deeply enough to detect the crystalline raw form of energon previously.

These deposits were deeper than most of the others, but Bulkhead and Wheeljack made short work of creating a small entrance to the natural cave beneath them, carving a side entrance through the layers of rock to keep visibility to a minimum. 

It would keep it hidden at least for a while from any Deception scouts, and gave them the chance to take a significant amount of much needed fuel for further refinement into ingestible energon. 

Spirits were high; After a long search, he had finally been able to wave off Agent Fowler as their air cover was no longer needed; They were headed back to the base with several loads of fuel cargo and could go back for more after they rested from today’s efforts. 

They had been struggling recently, and desperately needed both the fuel and the morale boost. Optimus was in good spirits himself, happy at their success and at the improved mood of his team. 

He was looking forward to informing Ratchet in person; He had sent a brief message of their good news to him upon discovering the deposits, but had received no reply. Optimus wasn’t concerned; He had marked it non-priority in an effort to allow Ratchet to focus on watching the children. There was no crisis, and nobody was in need of medical attention, after all. It was best to give his friend the chance to rest, as much as he could while handling all three humans on his own, anyway. 

Upon their arrival back at base, Optimus had been towards the back of their group formation, alt-mode weighed down by a hefty amount of energon crystals. As a result, he hadn’t immediately noticed the situation in the corner of the base’s central hall. 

It was Arcee, who had been looking for Jack, who noticed first. She used internal comms to alert Optimus; It set him on edge. Internal comms were used either at medium range distance or when silence was required. What had gone wrong at the base while they were away? 

Immediately he felt guilty for not following up when Ratchet hadn’t replied. 

“Arcee, what is the situation?” His face mask was still engaged, ready for anything.

“It’s fine, Optimus; Looks like the kids got Ratchet to take a break for once.” 

He walked over to where Arcee was standing, and spotted Ratchet deep in a state of recharge, with all three human children tucked safely against his frame. It appeared they were in recharge as well. 

His face mask slid back into the sides of his helm, revealing a soft smile. The others gradually noticed upon arrival after unloading their own energon cargo, as they assembled together as was usual for a post-mission debriefing. 

Optimus smiled, and addressed all present via internal comms save for the sleeping members of the team. “We should proceed to move the energon to our supply hold once it is possible to do so without disturbing their much-needed rest. For now, feel free to enter recharge yourselves; We have all had a long day.” 

He added as an afterthought, a knowing look in his optics: “You may take photos, but only for your own memory banks. I recognise the desire to make fun and benefit in revelling in one our more successful moments, but our friends should be respected in their most vulnerable state.” 

Optimus saved a few images of the scene in front of them himself before heading off to initiate his own sleep cycle. He had been glad to see his old friend finally getting used to the local lifeforms on this planet. Energon would be ready for Ratchet when he awoke, and he sent messages to Nurse Darby indicating the whereabouts and status of the children before he fell into recharge as well. 

The matrix hummed around his spark, pleased with a team that was happy, healthy, and quite clearly well-rested.


End file.
